diumenge, de febrer 25, 2007

Vampires and fairies




Clara and Mònica had their Carnival party at school. They chose to represent the two sides of the force: Clara was dressed as a vampire, and Mònica as a fairy.

First bath in the Royal Spa

This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog
Emma had her first bath a few days ago at the Royal Spa (AKA home). Her sisters gaver her the best possible assitastance, and since that day, she enjoys diving into the depths of her little bathtub!

divendres, de febrer 16, 2007

Some are lucky...

Time for carnival! just a tie, but enough to strike a pose in front of an old Mavica and portrait these people that make my job easy. The smiles are not just for the pose... they are there everyday!





Can anyone spot my boss?




powered by performancing firefox

diumenge, de febrer 11, 2007

Emma the Third

And here she comes!



Our third daughter Emma arrived on the 2nd of february, at 6:40 am. I apologise for the delay in posting the news, but the week has been pretty busy, as you can imagine. She's a lovely girl with a lot of dark hair, likely to fall in summer, as it happened with Mònica the Second. We all take turns to cuddle her, and we do argue to be first!

Back to work on monday... I'll go back to post ESL links for my colleagues... and I'll miss her!

I'll keep you up to date with her progress, and I will bother you with loads of bubbleshare slideshows. Here's the first:



This album is powered by
BubbleShare
- Add to my blog

dimarts, de gener 30, 2007

Thursday, 1st

On thursday the 1st, we are called to turn our lights off for five minutes, to be cut off from the world of power from 19:55 to 20:00. When I read about it, it shocked me a bit, indeed, but as I reflected on the idea, I saw that it was not meant to change the world, but to help us see how much energy we would save if we were a bit more sensible.

We are going to join the initiative (provided we are not in the middle of our third daughter's birth, due for that very same day), and I encourage you to do the same!



http://www.thearchitectpainter.com/MadisonGray/deep_SIGHT/reviews/barcelona_aerialpanorama.night.jpg



Cheers!





powered by performancing firefox

dijous, de gener 25, 2007

Cashback

A very witty short film. 17 minutes of intelligence and sensitivity awarded at Sundance festival. Take your time and watch it!

Shivers...

I'm reading a book by Frank Schätzing... The Swarm (El Quinto Dia in Spanish). It is a very good book, indeed. Long as it is, you never find the time to put it down.



http://bilder4.weltbild.de/kno/1163/11637472z.jpg



It deals with the fight of makind to survive a global threat coming up from the deep, and it covers computer science, ecology, biology andp politics, all perfectly threaded in a thrilling mess all through 881 pages (mind you, I'm right through two thirds of the novel, and how am I enjoying it!).



Yesterday I watched a piece of news on the telly about a creature from the deep that came up to the surface in Japan... a frilled shark... It looked like a monster to me. It is a very old species, and just the look of it made me think of the lurking dangers from Schätzing's book. The truth is that now I'm aware of the fact that the unknown mysteries are not so far... just 10.000 metres below!



Un tiburón 'prehistórico', filmado vivo en Japón





powered by performancing firefox

dimarts, de gener 23, 2007

A Good Game

Something I forgot about last Holidays: The Three Wise Men brought me a very good present... a bord game called Carcassonne. It consists on laying tiles which develop into a medieval landscape you must conquer.






A very nice and catchy layout. If there's someone willing to play.. I'd like to find some friends to play with me once in a while (not far from home, of course.. three children make things difficult, you know).

powered by performancing firefox

Performancing

A very interesting tool for us bloggers: A Mozilla add-on that lets you publish posts directly into your blog! You only have to go to the add-on page of Mozilla at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/extensions/ and search for Performancing:






Once you restart Mozilla Firefox you wil see a small icon on the lower right corner with a small clipboard... just set up your blog there and get started!


dijous, de gener 18, 2007

Back after a long while!

Here I am back from holidays... an later! It's been pretty busy at home, with lots of things to do because of Emma's arrival. She's expected by late january, but she'll probably be with us before. Clara and Mònica are really excited, and they keep calling Emma in her mummy's bossom: "C'mon, Emma, time to come!".
Back at work, I'm completely engaged in Caspian's project. It is really rich and motivating, and I hope we will come out with very good results.
Hey, I forgot: 5 in the family... need for more room... need for a bigger car. Those who want to collaborate.. It's a new 7 seater C4 Picasso... we accept donations!




Anyway, back to work. Here's a very interesting website where you can have your students in a chat room where you can recreate different simulated situations in different sceneries. You can even create your private island, which is good if you want to have a controlled chat in a closed environment. Just don't buy any gadget, they are not necessary, and have fun...very catchy, my colleagues, believe me!




Visit the website and have a try... you won't regret it!






dimecres, de desembre 13, 2006

Up here with some Geordie lads


I'm here in Newcastle upon Tyne at Caspian Learning in a two-day training session. we are setting up a project together. They have produced some fantastic stuff for education: 3D educational assets which can be used in different subjects. They are very motivating and catchy. I'm here to learn how to deal with some of the assets, how to deal with the authoring tool, and also to to talk about the joint project. I'm leaving tomorrow, but I've got the feeling that I could have stayed for some more days: there is so much to learn... and I feel like getting into it straight away. We are going to have some training sessions in Barcelona with people from Caspian together with a group of teachers who are eager to learn how to exploit the possibilities of thinkingworlds.


Thanks to you, Chris, Duncan, David, Rob, and to all of you up here at Caspian, mates. I hope we can come up with a rewarding and long-lasting experience.







dijous, de novembre 30, 2006

Engaging tools

Here's a group of interesting tools for you:

Heromachine. Draw your own hero: http://www.ugo.com/channels/comics/heroMachine/classic.asp



Decorate your Room. Practise vocabulary and have fun: http://www.studio2b.org/lounge/games/decorate_room/default_popup.html



Create films in a very catchy interface at DFilm Moviemaker: http://www.dfilm.com/index_movie_start.html

dimarts, de novembre 21, 2006

Slide: A tool for pictures

Check this free tool available on line at SLIDE.

Slightly different from Bubbleshare, navigation is not so easy, but the outcome can also be of your interest.

Bork

divendres, de novembre 10, 2006

Collaborative environments

I've come across a couple of very interesting online tools: They offer a free and common space where people can communicate in real time. In the first one, THINKATURE, we can draw, insert links and images as our colleagues are watching our performance in another computer. They can also add their observations, pictures and texts. It's like a digital board shared by a group.


The second website offers a more graphic interface. It is called IMAGINATION CUBED, and it is a sponsored website by General Electric. You can add a background, stamp drawings and write down with a pen. It does not support links or image uploading. It is much more suitable for primary schools.


Two very good ways to get in touch with colleagues and share our ideas. They are worth a try, believe me.

dimecres, de novembre 08, 2006

Free Mindmaps


A nice website providing an on-line mindmapping tool.

A Link to BBC


This link takes you to a game called "State of Debate". It is an interactive game where students have to act in a made-up world of the future. It fosters communicative expression. And it is very catchy!

dimarts, de novembre 07, 2006

For those who teach!

Don't miss this. It's good to have a laugh when it comes to ELT!

Bork


The sad thing is that some peole still think that teaching English is not so far from these methods!

dilluns, d’octubre 30, 2006

If it's true!

Watch this video and think... If the audience votes out of good will, trying to help the participant... that is a serious matter. We should think there's a cultural problem in our society. If they voted trying to tease him... bloody hell!... I don't know what is worse.

divendres, d’octubre 27, 2006

Interesting Slang


This is a good website for those who want to keep up to date with English and learn about slang. It can be syndicated and the number of words is massive!

dimarts, d’octubre 24, 2006

13

13 years of bliss, laughter, love, arguments, tears... two presents from paradise, one more on her way... Our wedding anniversary!!
Anna took me out for the weekend, and we went to Olot, and had an unforgettable lunch at Les Cols (don't miss it, at least for once).



Then we spent the night at a cozy hotel in Girona and then we spent a quiet and relaxed sunday in that wonderful city. We read the newspaper from beginning to end, strolled along its alleys and had a nice lunch too! Here are some pics and my deepest thanks to my wife!

Bork
Bork

This album is powered by
BubbleShare
- Add to my blog